Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
FeaturedFor SaleMercury Spoiler

Auburn RM Auction; Continued

Recently we told you about the Ray Evernham Dan Gurney 390 Spoiler with air conditioning that sold at the 2018 RM Auction in Auburn IN this May. This time I want to suggest to you a little caution if you decide to go to an auction looking for that special car to add to your collection. Katrina and I have attended the Barrett Jackson Scottsdale auction, the Mecum Kissimmee Auction as well as others and almost always have a bidder’s card but have yet to purchase or sell a car at auction so I am certainly no expert.

My recently attended the RM Auction held in the Spring of 2018 as part of the AACA (Antique Auto Club Association) Spring Meet in Auburn, IN. It was a terrific combination of high end car show and collector car auction. Both were going on at the same time. Since we had our 1969 Dodge Daytona entered in the show it did get very busy at times trying to see the best of both and get the Daytona ready for the Judges.

The Daytona did well winning its Senior Award in only its second outing. We will be back next year for the Annual Grand National Meet where it will be competing for it Annual Grand National First Prize.

I knew the Dan Gurney Spoiler was going to be there and I absolutely wanted to see it cross the block but I also wanted to give it a very close once over since I had never seen it in person before. I won’t go into details of the car or it performance on the auction block. You can read about that by clicking here.

Since we like all cars of various types we walked through all the display areas to see what caught our eye. We did see some that we loved but were far out of our budget. However, we did put a couple of cars on out list that we would like to take home if the price was right. There was one car that really got out attention. It was a 50s convertible that was just what we were looking for. We were absolutely positive we were going to bid on it. We knew what was a fair market price for the car based on its condition and options etc. One draw back of such auctions is that it is very difficult to even start one of the cars and nearly impossible to drive one before bidding. If you can find the owner or an auction representative you maybe able to do so but it is rare.

It was a very rainy day and the car was displayed inside the main building with the top down. I had pulled up the top cover and looked at the top to ensure it was new. The owner’s representative was present and said the top was brand new and the car well maintained. It did not have the appearance of a show car. The interior and details suggested an old restoration and many miles of happy motoring since.

When it was getting close to time for the car to cross the block we ventured outside into the rain to the see the car with the top up. That was the smartest thing we did all weekend.

When we walked out to look at the car with the top up it immediately became apparent to us that the color of the top was all wrong for the car and even if it was new it looked terrible. Worse than than the color was how badly the top fit. Over the front doors the top missed the top of the windows by a good inch! We also noticed the rear windows were not rolled up all the way. When we tried to roll them up or down they would not move!

At this point we decided the car we had been lusting over all weekend was not going to get a bid from us! When the car crossed the block  under the bright lights and the top down (some windows were up and some half down a clue to a problem) bidding was fast and furious. It was a 20 footer, meaning it looked fantastic from a distance. It looked beautiful from the audience’s perspective but we knew better. The winning bid was nearly three times what we felt was a fair price based on condition!

The lesson learned is to look every car over very thoroughly even though it is a high class respectable auction treat every car like you were buying it off eBay or Craig’s List!

On the other had there was another car that we really liked but didn’t think we wanted to spend what it would sell for. We casually visited with each other while it was on the block saying what a great hot rod it was. Before we knew it the car sold for half of what we thought it should have sold for. Did we miss a good deal or did we miss something about the car’s condition others had not? We will never know.

Here are just a few of the cars that caught our eye at the RM Auburn Auction.

Click on the individual images and then click again to see an enlarged image.

Richard

Some of my first and strongest memories from my childhood relate to cars. I still remember when things happened based on what car I was driving at the time. I grew up and lived in Iowa for nearly 40 years before moving to Southern California and now live in Tennessee. I was a Corvette fanatic for years but then re-discovered vintage American Muscle. My wife, Katrina, and I decided we wanted to focus on unique and rare muscle cars. After a lot of research we fell in love with the Ford Blue Oval Aero Cars. These were only built in 1969 and and aerodynamics became an important part of winning races. The only purpose of these limited production cars was to win NASCAR races using the Boss 429 and 427 power plants complimented with a special, wind cheating, aerodynamic body. The Ford Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II are terrific and historic cars. This site is devoted to these car and their owners past and present. We provide an Online Registry for recording the long term history and ownership of every remaining Talladega, Spoiler and Spoiler II.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Check Also
Close
Back to top button